Baby sitting a lil piggy!!

[I_<3_Guineapigs]

I've been researching guinea pigs since October! This site and guinea lynx have both been incredibly helpful and I've learned a lot. I just recieved a cavy today from my brother's friend. They are going on vacation, so I'm just watching it. She is a swirly tri color, chocolate, tan, and white. Of course as cute as can be! She lives in a store bought cage .. but I can't do anything about it. All I can do now is suggest things to the owner so don't get all over my case for her having to live there. I did however build her a vactation home.

I added a 2X4 cubes cage onto her about 1 in a half grid by 2 cage. I gave her plenty of timothy hay, hidey houses, etc. but she doesn't have any vitamin C pellots !! She has a seed based pellot. I'm really worried about her diet as the only veggie she gets is baby carrots. No fruit. I'm going to ask my mom if we can buy some more veggies/fruit just for her and some pellots. The owner even said she doesn't eat much of her food, that scared me a bit.

The scariest thing though, is that she seems a bit fat. I hope she's not preg. but not sure. It might also be from her seed diet, even though she doesn't eat much of it.

For the cage all it is is a shower curtain, newspaper, towel, and fleece. Not my first attmept at making one, but it seems to be working out pretty well. It is my first time caring for a pig and I hope I enjoy caring for her. If I do I will go back to begging my parents for one.

I hope I can work everything out with her and her owners, so far she has been a really sweet yet goofy pig. It will be hard letter her go I hope to meet some other guinea lovers! (I'm sure there are tons out there) Also, I'll try to get pictures of her and the cage!

Sry for all the spelling errors. . didn't get enough sleep last night XD

[envisionary333]

Welcome to the forum! You have definitely come to the right place for piggy lovers. I have 11 of them myself!

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job caring for the piggy, it's too bad she can't stay with you! Do you think the owner would be willing to read through this site and Guinea Lynx if you suggested it? Or maybe you could show them the cage you made and offer to help make one? Hopefully you can help ensure that the piggy gets a good life when she goes back home as well.

The combination of unhealthy, mixed pellets and a too-small cage are probably contributing to her weight problem. Also, being kept alone will often cause a piggy to become bored and exercise less. Ideally, they should always be kept in pairs or groups because they are herd animals by nature. Here is a great link about that: http://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm. Also, here is a great link about what veggies to feed in case you haven't seen it: http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...arts-info.html. You've probably already found those links in your research, but I thought I'd mention them anyway just in case!

Post some pigtures when you have the chance, she sounds adorable!

[wickedrodent]

Hey J, I see you made an account. Hows Ellephant doing?

[I_<3_Guineapigs]

She seems to be doing fine now. I asked my dad to go to the petstore and grocery and we were going to. Then my mom wanted me to go to another store so I asked if we could stop at the grocery and pet store . ..she said no. She said why don't you feed them the food she's got, they've been feeding it to her for a year. (which scared me even more) I'm just really mad right now.

Now I need to convince my mom that it really is the right thing to do to get her more of a variety of veggies and vitamin c pellots. Instead of just carrots and a seed based food.

[I_<3_Guineapigs]

Sry for double posting. For an "update" I talked to my mom again, she still says no. -.- She said "she's not ours so we can't just go around changing her food, what if she throws it up" . Do guinea pigs even throw up? Also I told my mom we'll tell the people and she didn't like the idea of telling someone their doing something wrong when it's their pet. I don't know what else to do, she won't even let me get better veggies.

[PhoenixFeather]

Originally Posted by I_<3_Guineapigs

Sry for double posting. For an "update" I talked to my mom again, she still says no. -.- She said "she's not ours so we can't just go around changing her food, what if she throws it up" . Do guinea pigs even throw up? Also I told my mom we'll tell the people and she didn't like the idea of telling someone their doing something wrong when it's their pet. I don't know what else to do, she won't even let me get better veggies.

For what it's worth, I understand your mom's point of view.

I would not be happy if I left someone to watch my pet and they didn't follow my instructions, changed it's feed, etc. Even though I agree that you're right about the problems with the diet, it's not your pet, and it's not really your place to make changes unilaterally. Can you contact the owner and at least discuss it with them before trying to convince your parents of anything?

Good luck!

[I_<3_Guineapigs]

Yeah I guess you're right. I'll talk with the owner when they get back. I am not sure if I they will change their ways or not, no matter I'll try my best. The piggy seems to be doing fine, just still a bit scared to explore and spends most of her time in the store cage.

Oh and thank-you for everyones support, advice, and info. I highly doubt they will get a C&C cage and another piggy but I'll suggest it to them.

I'd also like to mention the owners aren't bad people at all, they are really good friends of my brother. Very nice when I've seen them, I think it's just the lack of knowlage of why not to do certain things. I don't know . .but I'll just suggest some things to them and let them be. She doesn't seem in bad health, just a little overweight and needs a nail trim. I am not sure if I should attempt to do this since it would obviously be my first time and she's not mine. (agreeing with my mom) If she gets hurt, then the owners won't be too happy. It does need done though.

[I_<3_Guineapigs]

Piggy went home a couple of days ago. I was in California with my mom when they came to pick her up so I didn't get to talk to them at all. I was at least happy to get a chance to see what guinea pigs are like. I've concluded they aren't for me at this point in time. My dog kept trying to "play" with it, so a piggy would definetly not work out. They wouldn't be able to come out for floor time, and I'd have to make an extremely sturdy cage instead of the cubes I already have. Maybe someday, I have plenty of time